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It’s unethical.  It’s illegal.  And it’s still happening.  The New York Times reports that “applicants with black-sounding names received 50 percent fewer callbacks than those with white-sounding names,” according to a study published by the American Economic Review.

Minority job seekers are forced to go to extreme lengths to make themselves appear white on their applications- getting rid of ethnicity-based club memberships listed on their resumes (“African-American Business Club”), changing how their names are written (from Barry Jabbar Sykes to Barry J. Sykes), and adjusting their speaking voices when talking to potential employers on the phone.

More shocking info from the NY Times article:

- “There is also the matter of how many jobs, especially higher-level ones, are never even posted and depend on word-of-mouth and informal networks, in many cases leaving blacks at …

If you’re like the average college student, you’re probably counting the minutes until Wednesday when you are released from your dorm room cell and can venture home for some much needed food and snoozing.  (And for me, this means counting the minutes until I’m released from my work-from-home cell for food and snoozing.)  But this Thanksgiving, I challenge you to make a couple changes to your typical holiday routine and make the most out of your time off.

How can you use Thanksgiving to get a turkey leg up on your career (and where the hell did that phrase come from?)?

1. Think about all the people you’re going to see who you haven’t seen in a long time. Friends, family, all of these people can potentially help your professional pursuits, whether it’s by giving you …

I just read about a hiring survey conducted by the Human Capital Institute and TheLadders.com.  Over half the employers surveyed said that they are leaving many positions unfilled because of a lack of qualified candidates.  That’s right, during a recession in which millions of people are out of work, positions are sitting unfilled for months because employers aren’t getting the right kind of candidates to apply.

One fascinating quote from the article: “Human resources spends too much time sifting through résumés for people who aren’t remotely qualified, and can’t find many that are. “We’ve gotten close to 300 résumés for a service coordinator position. Out of that we brought in four people,” she said.”

So, how can you break out of the crowd and make sure that your resume screams I’M QUALIFIED, HIRE …

Remember the amazing word game Mad Libs?  I probably spent well over 15,000 hours of my childhood laughing until I cried because of that wonderful word pad.  And now that we’re all grown up, I’m sure we’ve all gotten a form letter or 200 in response to a job application that we submitted with any given company.  You know the kind- impersonal, vague, and generally unnerving.  It thanks you for your interest (as though you were paying the company a compliment by applying for their job) and tells you- don’t call us, we’ll call you.  Well now it’s time to apply the fun we had with Mad Libs to the seriously not-fun task of reading form letters.

Form letter: Your background is impressive and matches our qualifications. I will forward your resume to the hiring …

If you ever wanted to know how to hilariously ruin your job search, watch this clip.  Ed Helms, aka Andy Bernard on “The Office” goes through the whole job search process for this Daily Show piece.

Here are some of his best tips:

- For the color of your resume paper, always choose fireball fuchsia (it’s the “hottest” pink).

- Go one step further and match your suit’s color to your resume paper.  It’s that extra detail that’ll give you an edge in a job interview.

- Let employers know about your personal hobbies like ceramic shoe collecting or pornographic embroidery.

- Your top skill should be “not taking less than $25,000 a year, period.”

- Searching for your dream job online is a waste of time.  There are never results for “bikini inspector.”…

This just in from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), THE authority on college employment information in the United States.  According to a Sept. 16 press release, “Employers expect to hire 7 percent fewer graduates from the college Class of 2010 than they hired from the Class of 2009.”

NACE conducts employer surveys every season to determine what the hiring trends for college students and recent grads look like for the upcoming year.  The good news is that even though the Class of 2010 is going to have fewer job opportunities than the Class of 2009, the drop off is FAR less than the 21% decrease experienced by the Class of 2009, compared to 2008.  So, just as we’ve seen in recent job reports by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, …

It’s a classic entry level employee conundrum- In order to land a job, you need experience.  But in order to gain experience, you need a job. What’s a millennial to do?  Well, smart millennials will get experience through a variety of non-job or semi-job experiences.  You’re probably thinking – internships – and those are a good start.  But one area that offers free experience, flexible schedules, and a huge variety of opportunity is volunteerism.

Think about it- statistics show that you’re probably NOT getting paid to do an internship anyway, so why help a for-profit company make more money off your hard, free labor?  Instead, consider volunteering for a nonprofit, an organization that assists a particular cause, group, or community and that, in order to survive on a day to day basis, relies on volunteers to …

Oh Beyonce, how did you manage to get into jobology today?  For those of you living under a rock who missed the widespread coverage of this not-surprising-for-Kanye incident, Taylor Swift won an MTV video music award last night and as she was giving her speech, Kanye sauntered up on stage, grabbed the mic from her, and went on a mini tirade about Beyonce being the more deserving nominee.

First thought- clearly being classy isn’t a pre-requisite for being successful.

But then, later in the show, when Beyonce won a VMA for video of the year, she graciously handed over the mic to Taylor Swift so that she could finish her rudely interrupted acceptance speech.

Second thought- class might not be a pre-req to success, but it certainly helps.

If …

No matter what kinds of jobs you’ve had- retail, babysitting, internships, full time jobs, etc.- there comes a time when your manager needs managing.  Bosses, even the best of them, sometimes need to be managed by their subordinates, and a good subordinate knows how to do this discretely and effectively.  Here are some tips for managing your boss.

But first, WHY

do you need to manage up? You need to be in control of your professional life.  Managing up gives you that control.  You could look at it, like Penelope Trunk does, as caring for your boss, rather than managing your boss.  The more you care for them, the more they’ll care for you- in terms of giving you more responsibility, more freedom, more interesting work, and a better work life in general.  And …

Very likely coming to a city near you is Monster.com’s Keep America Working Tour.  Billed as “More than a career fair, it brings together the tools and expertise you need to find your calling.”

At these events, you can:

Learn From Career Experts Monster Experts provide you with the advice and techniques you need to truly stand out from the crowd in today’s tough job market.

See Monster’s New Career Tools Experience the all-new Monster.com and learn how our powerful new Career Management Tools can help you blaze a path to success.

Make Career Connections Make the most of our on-site career building opportunities, where motivated job seekers and market-leading employers can meet face-to-face.

These fairs are going on through December 2009.  Click here to find a fair near you: http://monstervjf.adicio.com/monVjfCalendar.html

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